On a wonderful spring sunny morning in
Maypark, for the first time in weeks the grass was playable and our boys played
two great games against Craobh Chiarain This was the occasion of the getting
the orange team's first football match of the year off to a start against
Craobh Chiarain. On the day, Evan Wynne joined our orange team for the day. The
first match was a close affair with Craobh Chiarain running out winners by 6
points to 4. Our lads hadn't played a competitive football match since November
and it took a while for them to get back into the groove and mindset of matches.
Craobh Chiarain young guns got amongst us
right from the outset. Matt Lawless scored for Raheny with long frees and by
half time it was all square. Raheny Oranges missed a few opportunities in the
second half while our opponents were more clinical in front of goal and from
free kicks.

In the second match of the day, the Orange
teams got more into the run of things, shaking off match rustiness with some
great marking and tackling. It was another close affair, but we lost out by a
few well taken points in the second half on the part of Craobh. Our opponents
were a strong team and showed us what we can achieve when we get more matches
under our collective belts. Well done again to our lead scorer on the day, Matt
lawless: he was ably assisted by our defensive rock, Jack Codd, himself
assisted on the day by Ciaran Kerrisk, Brian Murray, Colin McAweeney and Adam
Roberts. Sam Mitchell and Conor Watters were busy throughout both games in
midfield. Thanks to Evan Wynne, who plucked some great high balls out of the
air during the games. Well done to all the lads who showed all the signs of the
form that more match practice will lead to over the coming weeks. Let's hope
the rain can stay away to give us a good run of sunny Saturday mornings. Great
to be back playing football, the boys are looking forward to the next outing.

The 1st of March saw the Raheny 2006 Orange Crew
arrive as guests of Craobh Chiarán at Maypark near Donnycarney on the Malahide
road. Swapping last week’s helmets and hurls for gumshields they met the
Craobh ready for action on the first day of Spring fresh from the Gormanstown
indoor tournament. This unit with seven competitive games already behind them
were a serious challenge for the Raheny men on this their second outing of the
season. Nevertheless the Raheny Orange were up for the game from the off. Head
Coach Mr. Pitt's instructions for our first game were clear and straight
forward, "we must concentrate on maintaining our field position".
Our boys listened and throughout both of our encounters they held their
positions showing great discipline.

In the first game Dan O'Grady shone for Raheny in
defence chasing every loose ball and terrorising Craobh's offensive front line.
He showed excellent technique as he cleared the ball on many occasions
threading super passes to his teammates in midfield. Rian Prizeman showed
positional awareness with incisive runs into space making himself available for
passes and supporting the midfield at every opportunity. Cormac Baldwin once
again showed real grit after taking a knock to pick himself up and take the
free kick and score from 15 metres. Craobh Chiarán responded as expected
putting our goal undersiege. The pressure eventually took its toll and
despite some excellent goal keeping by Ryan Kent and some surgical kick outs to
his team mates in midfield, Craobh eventually got the better of Raheny Blue in
our first contest of the day. The final score of 5 points to 1 did not reflect
the competitive proximity of both teams.

Raheny were to be
denied despite some fine kicks at goal by the more accurate finishing of
the Chraobh. Mr. Pitt asked for more in our second game, focusing our
men’s attention on the fundamentals of tackling. Again our lads responded
to the instruction: Craobh on this occasion were not allowed any free movement
of the ball with excellent one hand tackling from Raheny Orange in all areas of
the pitch. James Pitt, Oscar Thomas, Johnny Baldwin, Luke Kelly showed
real determination and gave no quarter to the opposition. Mathew Grant
was tireless in his support to Cormac Baldwin up front, always stepping into
space and always available for the simple pass. When opportunity knocked
he showed real confidence in front of goal only to be denied by excellent goal
keeping. The final score of 9 to 7 points in favour of Orange was well
deserved. Overall, it must be said that Raheny Orange showed real grit
against two battle hardened Craobh outfits. Our thanks must also go to
the Parents and families who attended, showing wonderful vocal support to our
boys.

The
Raheny Green Team started their 2014 campaign with two well deserved victories
over two spirited and skillful Castleknock teams. The pitch was a
little heavy but none of the players were deterred in what were otherwise good
conditions.

The
first game was a tight affair with the Green Team coming out on top by 13
points to 12. Dylan Strain was in the right place at the right time to open the
scoring for Raheny when he found the net with an opportunist tap-in
following a Raheny attack that Castleknock failed to clear. Max Osbourne
was the other Green Team scorer in the first half with a fine kick over the bar. Following
an impressive first half in goal, John Broderick moved into midfield in the
second and monopolised the rest of the Raheny scoring with a fine display of
skills. Castleknock were made to work very hard for their points as Matthew
Dowdall and Luke Morgan worked well in defence to stop the opposition getting
past.

The
second match produced another victory for Raheny, this time by 9 points to
3. Jamie Nolan confidently took over in goal and was rarely worked by the
opposition. In a game of only four scores, Raheny were reasonably comfortable
throughout. Tiernan O'Brien and Joe Bonner worked well to stop Castleknock from
having many scoring opportunities while at the same time setting up Raheny
attacks. John Broderick was again on form and, as players began to tire, Joseph
Doherty had a couple of shots at goal but the Castleknock goalkeeper made good
saves to keep the score down.

Overall,
the Green team did their mentors proud and the performances bode well for a
good season.

Saturday was the first competitive outing of the
season against a steely Castleknock side.

The Red Team got off to a great start with 2 wins and
a big score racked up in the process. There was a wonderful contribution from
all the lads with some great scores coming from Dan O Grady, Luke McCullough,
Se Daly and Cathal Shovlin.

There was super fielding in mid field from Ordhran
Carmody. This was assisted by the accurate kick outs of Cian Rossi and Sean
Quinn. The defending was also outstanding from both Adam Robinson and Ultan
Fitzpatrick. Our link up play between forward and backs was very evident.

There will be tougher days
ahead, but the future is bright. Well done Lads.